Mark Sultan Calls Buying Music 'Capitalist Bulls---', Lashes Out at Dubstep Hipsters

Posted on Oct 28th 2011 12:00PM by Anne T Donahue
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Courtesy of Mark Sultan

Mark Sultan does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. At least that's what the Montreal garage rock enthusiast sometimes known as BBQ (but no longer part of King Khan and BBQ Show) says when asked about his new and aptly titled vinyl albums, 'Whatever I Want' and 'Whenever I Want,' as well as in a recent blog post.

"I just read a comment that garage rock is dead, and I don't even care," Sultan tells Spinner. "This is the music I like to do. I hate trends and I'll do whatever I want always. I'm proud of what I've done, and I think I have helped invigorate certain strains of the genre of music I like. You can always tell the fakes from the real s---. You can always tell what's not real and what's real."

What's real is Sultan's frustration. Despite the longevity he's managed to maintain, the rocker's clearly grown tired of what he considers to be industry-wide insincerity.

"I understand and appreciate instantaneous music and artforms in general," he maintains. "But I will say a lot of that is so phony to me. To talk about dubstep, for example: Maybe that's cutting edge for the next month in Williamsburg, but the fact is, I call bulls--- and I don't believe you. I think you're doing that just to be part of something that's popular for the moment, and if you want to take art as disposable fashion, that's your business. But I don't."

"I do stuff because I love it and I don't care who likes it and who doesn't like it," he adds. "Sincerity is a pretty serious thing for me, and I think if you're insincere about something and you're doing it for all the wrong reasons, good on you, but I'm not into it."

If that's the case, Sultan's choice to re-release '$' -- an album he said was "left for dead by people who gained [his] trust and s--- on it" -- must come from the heart, especially because he maintains that the current industry model has fueled a disinterest in record sales and kept creativity at the forefront.

Mark Sultan Performs 'I Am the End'

"The only people who care about selling records are labels," he affirms. "And since I'm not a label -- well, I do have a label -- but since I really don't care about that side of things, I'll try to do whatever I can to get the music into somebody's hands if they want it."

"I don't think you have to buy music or art in order to enjoy it," he continues. "I think that it's this kind of capitalist bulls--- that I don't care about. I can make my money some other way. Money comes and goes, and keeping art and music away from people because you want to make a buck is kind of disgusting to me."

But regardless of his frustrations, Sultan remains optimistic.

"In reading this, maybe somebody's going to be like, 'What a bitter old f---er', but let me tell you: I'm not bitter at all," he concludes. "I'm super positive and happy with whatever I can do. If there's 10 people at a show or 100 or whatever the case may be, I know that I'm making my music and playing whatever I want to play, and I'm very happy with what I do. So people may laugh, but I don't give a s--- because I do what I want all the time."

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